


A Stray Found at the Gym (and Adopted by the Bartons)

by WhenTheMoonShines



Series: Better creatures could love you, I know. [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Brock is not HYDRA, Brock is not OK With Your Shitty Parenting, Lucy is Clint's niece, Misunderstandings, No Child Abuse!, Not beta'd we die like men, Reference Only in Passing, References to Depression, The Barton Family Collects Strays - Pass it on, Undercover Clint Barton, good brock
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-16
Updated: 2020-03-16
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:02:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23172118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhenTheMoonShines/pseuds/WhenTheMoonShines
Summary: This is how Brock Rumlow, three months out of the army, judges a guy named Clint (a shitty parental figure) who brings his niece along to an equally shitty gym (that's at least half full of gang members). Turns out the kid is alright though, and maybe Brock can help her with her homework while her shitty uncle is there hanging with criminals. But then Brock notices the bruises on Lucy's arm.
Relationships: Brock Rumlow & Clint Barton, Brock Rumlow & Original Character(s)
Series: Better creatures could love you, I know. [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1665619
Kudos: 16





	A Stray Found at the Gym (and Adopted by the Bartons)

**Author's Note:**

> Includes vague references to depression and Brock struggling to adjust to civilian life after leaving the military.
> 
> This exists within an unpublished AU of mine, where Clint has an adopted niece named Lucy that he isn't really equipped to raise but still is the legal guardian of. And obviously Brock is a good guy in this. Clint and Brock are both in their early-to-mid-twenties here.

Brock took a swig from his water bottle and looked over the gym floor while he took a break. The gym was a shitty old place with more criminals than regular people, but the membership was cheap, and the gang members were at least decent sparring partners if he ever wanted one. All round him were sweaty people doing their own thing: some were there because they had nothing better to do, like him.

In this shitty gym full of sweaty tattooed men, a little brown-haired girl stood out like a sore thumb. She was tucked in a corner doing her homework again. That's what she had been doing there for the past week while her dad or guardian or whatever worked out. She was maybe ten years old and obviously wasn’t thrilled to be there, but the blond young man she came with had dragged her along anyway.

“Hey kid” Brock raised his voice so he could hear him but made his tone kind so he wouldn’t scare her. The girl blinked up at him in surprise. “You alright?” He wasn’t sure why he said anything, she wasn’t his business anyway.

She quickly nodded. As if she’d do anything but that.

“I’m sure you can use the office if you want some place more quiet”, Brock found himself suggesting and walked over to her so they didn’t have to shout at each other. Seriously, this kid wasn’t his problem, but he knew how hard it could be to concentrate with this much noise. Especially with all the grunts and slaps coming from all the boxing. Doing homework must be hell in a place like this but it didn't seem like the girl had a choice.

“Clint doesn’t like when I walk off”, she replied.

“That’s him?” Brock nodded towards where the blond guy was sparring with a gang member. “He your dad?”

“My uncle”, she corrected him. The girl’s name was Lucy: Brock had heard her uncle shout at her a few times when it was time to go. He never sounded nice and was always a bit too loud.

“Your parents let him take you here?”

“I don’t have any”, Brock winced on the inside, “I live with Clint”. Well, at least that explained why she was there all the time.

Brock was saved from having to figure out what to say because the girl’s uncle stalked over. “Luce, we’re leaving. Get your things”, he ordered her before turning his focus on Brock. “Who the fuck are you?”

“Brock. Brock Rumlow”, Brock got annoyed by the other man's tone.

“You’re that vet, aren’t you?” Clint’s whole demeanour changed in an instant and he looked almost friendly for a second.

“Yeah”. Brock wasn’t even going to ask how Clint knew that.

“I’m Clint”, Brock took the hand that was stretched out and shook it. “And this is Lucy”, Clint introduced the girl.

Lucy gave Brock a small smile while quickly putting her things in her backpack. Clint was doing an impatient hand motion for her to move faster. “I hope she wasn’t bothering you”, Clint said.

“Nah”, Brock shook his head.

It was a bit weird how Clint took Lucy’s backpack and gave her a little nudge towards the exit like they were in a hurry. “Good! Well, see you around Rumlow”, Clint said, and his smile seemed a bit fake.

“Sure”, Brock replied with a nod. Lucy gave Brock a small wave and was more or less pushed towards the exit.

\-----------------------------------------------

Over the next few weeks Brock got used to having the kid at the gym. Brock let Lucy say “Hi Mr. Rumlow!” exactly once before telling her to call him Brock, and after that she seemed to take a liking to him. She was still doing her homework every weekday but instead of staying in her own corner she was sitting against the wall closest to Brock to keep him company.

Brock wasn’t stupid, he knew Lucy’s uncle Clint was into some shady stuff since he kept hanging out with the gang members at the gym. After that first time Clint didn’t seem to give a shit if his niece was talking to a stranger at the gym and Brock hadn’t had it in him to protest the times he more or less had been appointed babysitter for Lucy while Clint disappeared for half an hour or so. Brock was sure Clint went and did something criminal, but Brock wasn’t about to go and stick his nose into it.

It didn’t take long before Lucy became the highlight of Brock’s day. Brock had been out of the army for three months and wasn’t always sleeping that great (plus he hated his current job with a passion) but he still figured it was worth getting out of the bed if he could get to the gym. His happiness relied on an eleven-year-old smiling at him and he knew that wasn’t healthy, but he didn’t care. Two weeks in he followed his new routine of going for a run in the morning, then to work, and then straight to the gym.

“What’s three times seven?” Lucy asked. She was sitting by the shelf of weights where Brock was working out.

“What do you think it is?” Brock countered in between a lift. She wasn’t a fan of maths and had already once tried to get him to do the homework for her.

“Twenty-one”, Lucy said. “But this isn’t turning out right”, she was pouting, and on her way to becoming frustrated.

Brock sat down the weights on the hinges and sat up. “Alright, let me see”, he went over to crouch down beside Lucy and help her find the problem. He wasn’t great at that kind of equation with all the letters, but he could still do it at Lucy’s level without making a fool out of himself.

That was when he saw the bruises on Lucy’s arm.

“What’s this?” Brock demanded and grabbed Lucy’s arm to move the long sleeve out of the way. The bruises continued up her arm. Who knew where else they could be?

“Nothing, I fell”, Lucy mumbled and dragged her arm away from Brock’s loose grip. She quickly rolled down her sleeve to hide the bruises.

“Look at me”, Brock said. “Hey, look here”, Brock repeated when Lucy first didn’t look at him. “Who did it?”

“Nobody”, Lucy quickly said, but her eyes betrayed her as she glanced at Clint across the room. Brock swore to god he was going to kill him.

Brock clenched his jaw and stood up. Clint was over at one of the boxing sacks and had three of his work-out buddies around him, but Brock didn’t care. Clint could get away with being a shitty parental figure… but hurting a kid? No way Brock was going to let that shit slide.

“Brock, no, don't-” Lucy had gotten up after Brock and ran to catch up with his long and angry steps. His hands were already rolled into fists and anyone could see he was on a rampage headed straight towards Clint.

Before Brock could reach Clint the door to the gym was swung open and a man yelled “We’ve got company!” and the whole place turned into a chaos of running people. Some of the gang members pulled out weapons from god-knows-where and the smarter of the civilians scattered out of the gym as quick as they could.

Clint turned to Brock with a serious expression. “Get Lucy out of here! Take the door at the back” Clint urged Brock. “Coulson’s gonna be outside, okay?” He added to Lucy, kinder than Brock had ever heard him say anything before.

Following orders was still fused into Brock’s backbone. He didn’t hesitate to pick Lucy up and start running towards the back of the gym. His mission was her and only her, and he didn’t care about Clint who ran in the opposite direction like an idiot with a suicide wish. Lucy hung onto Brock as he quickly got them away from a fight and out on the street behind the gym.

Two black cars with white logos on the side pulled up just as the door slammed shut behind Brock. “S.H.I.E.L.D.” was written under some type of eagle logo and Brock let out a curse when armed men in bulletproof gear stepped out of the cars. Lucy had stayed quiet the whole time and Brock gave her a quick glance. There wasn’t much Brock could do if the armed men pointed their rifles at them.

An unsuspecting man who looked like a clerk stepped out of the second car. Unlike all the other armed men he was wearing a normal suit and tie. Brock put Lucy down on the ground and protectively held her close to his chest. The armed men ran past them and into the gym.

“You must be Bruck Rumlow”, the clerk-looking man smiled at them. Shots echoed from both inside the building and from what must’ve been on the other side of it.

“Are you the Coulson guy?” Brock asked, having remembered Clint said something about someone named Coulson.

“I am”, Coulson nodded. “Agent Coulson. I work with Mr. Barton.”

“Who?” Brock frowned.

Lucy put her hand over Brock’s hand to get his attention. She leaned back against Brock and angled her head up to look at him. “He means Clint”, she explained.

“Agent? Agent of what?”

“Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division. But we call it SHIELD”.

“Never heard of it.”

Coulson smiled, “That’s the point.”

Later it was explained to Barton that Clint was a SHIELD agent who had been undercover at the gym. It explained why Clint had been okay to hang with as long as none of the gang members were around. But Brock still confronted Clint about the bruises on Lucy’s arm, making sure to do it in front of as many of Clint’s co-workers as possible. Brock was close to punching him and it had been Coulson who had to explain that they had authorised self-defence lessons for Lucy because of Clint’s profession. Brock understood but kept his opinions to himself.

After the SHIELD bust at the gym Brock barely went there anymore. It wasn't the same being there without Clint and Lucy. That also meant the end of Brock's daily routine.

After that his nightmares became more regular again. 

He got kicked from his job. 

Not that he had liked working there in the first place.

Getting out of bed got harder. Not that he slept much either. 

A month later Clint turned up at Brock’s apartment out of the blue, sheepishly asking if Brock could take care of Lucy for a few days while Clint went on a mission. Brock didn’t know why he agreed to do it. He realised he’d have to re-stock his fridge. Brock ate out, if he ate, but Lucy was a growing girl and would need something better than cereal and some canned corn. The stay ended up being a bit awkward and Brock didn’t know shit about kids, but Lucy was a joy to be around and she didn’t seem to mind.

It took two months for Brock to start at the SHIELD academy as a recruit. Brock was regularly roped into dinner with the Bartons on the roof of their apartment building and Clint had soon worn him down about joining the agency. A week in Brock knew the whole spy thing wasn’t really for him. But then he learned about the STRIKE teams. 


End file.
